Conference support system, conference support method, and recording medium

ABSTRACT

A conference support system is for supporting a conference. The conference support system includes one or more information processing apparatuses for implementing various functions of the conference support system. The conference support system includes an inputter configured to input a statement content that is a content of a statement stated by a participant of the conference; a determiner configured to determine a statement type of the statement content, based on the statement content input by the inputter; and an outputter configured to output at least one of the statement content, an evaluation of the conference, and an evaluation of the participant, based on a determination result obtained by the determiner.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/413,625, filed on Jan. 24, 2017, which claims priority to JapanesePatent Application No. 2016-017939, filed on Feb. 2, 2016, JapanesePatent Application No. 2016-105601, filed on May 26, 2016, and JapanesePatent Application No. 2017-004261, filed on Jan. 13, 2017, the contentsof which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a conference support system, aconference support method, and a recording medium.

2. Description of the Related Art

There is known a method in the related art for managing the progress ofa conference by a conference support system. The conference supportsystem manages the progress of a conference in order to reduce the loadof cumbersome operations such as time adjustment, and to allow thechairman to concentrate on the proceeding contents and accuratelyexpedite the proceedings. In this method, the conference support systemdisplays the progress of the conference, and controls the displayaccording to the proceedings of the conference. Specifically, first, theconference support system sets the scheduled proceeding time requiredfor each proceeding topic in advance, with respect to a plurality ofconference agendas, and creates a timetable for the entire conference.Next, the conference support system displays an index indicating theelapsed time of the conference agenda item, according to need.Furthermore, the conference support system detects the end of theproceeding item, and shifts the index to the next conference agenda.Then, the conference support system reallocates the remaining scheduledproceeding time with respect to the remaining conference agendas, at thetime point when a conference agenda has ended. In this way, theconference support system automatically adjusts the time such that theconference ends within the scheduled proceeding time, and therefore theload of operations for time adjustment is reduced. Thus, the chairman isable to concentrate on the proceeding contents and accurately manage theprogress of the proceedings (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application PublicationNo. 2007-43493

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An aspect of the present invention provides a conference support system,a conference support method, and a recording medium, in which one ormore of the above-described disadvantages are reduced.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided aconference support system for supporting a conference, the conferencesupport system including one or more information processing apparatusesfor implementing various functions of the conference support system, theconference support system including an inputter configured to input astatement content that is a content of a statement stated by aparticipant of the conference; a determiner configured to determine astatement type of the statement content, based on the statement contentinput by the inputter; and an outputter configured to output at leastone of the statement content, an evaluation of the conference, and anevaluation of the participant, based on a determination result obtainedby the determiner.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention willbecome more apparent from the following detailed description when readin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram for describing an example of the overallconfiguration of a conference support system according to a firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an example of a hardware block diagram of an informationprocessing apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of an example of the conferencesupport system according to the first embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a screen displayed by the conferencesupport system according to the first embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a setting screen for setting an agendaand a goal, etc., in the conference support system according to thefirst embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example where an alert and the remaining time aredisplayed on a screen displayed by the conference support systemaccording to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process ofdetermining the type of statement content by the conference supportsystem according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a screen for switching between anabstract and the full text by the conference support system according tothe first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process of switchingbetween an abstract and the full text by the conference support systemaccording to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a screen indicating an abstract thatis displayed by the conference support system according to the firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram of an example of the conferencesupport system according to a second embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a summary screen displayed by theconference support system according to the second embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of an evaluation screen displayed by theconference support system according to the second embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 14 illustrates an example of a screen for inputting a subjectiveevaluation displayed by the conference support system according to thesecond embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of an example of a process of making anevaluation based on the time length of the conference, performed by theconference support system according to the second embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 16 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a naturallanguage process using machine learning by the conference support systemaccording to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 17 illustrates an example of a graphical user interface (GUI)displayed by the conference support system according to the thirdembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 18 illustrates an example of a display of topics generated by theconference support system according to a fourth embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 19 illustrates an example of displayed results extracted by theconference support system according to the fourth embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 20 is a flowchart of an example of generating topics by theconference support system according to the fourth embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The method of the related art, for managing the progress of aconference, merely manages the time of each agenda in the conference. Onthe other hand, there has been demand to efficiently hold a conferenceby making the contents of the conference visible.

A problem to be solved by an embodiment of the present invention is toprovide a conference support system that can increase the efficiency ofa conference.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described by referring tothe accompanying drawings.

First Embodiment (Overall Configuration)

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram for describing an example of the overallconfiguration of a conference support system according to a firstembodiment of the present invention. For example, as illustrated, aconference support system 1 includes a server 10 that is an example of aconference support apparatus, and one or more terminals 11. Furthermore,the server 10 and the terminals 11 are coupled via a network 12.Furthermore, the server 10 and the terminals 11 are informationprocessing apparatuses such as a personal computer (PC), having ahardware configuration, for example, as described below.

(Hardware Configuration)

FIG. 2 is an example of a hardware block diagram of an informationprocessing apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. For example, the server 10 and the terminal 11 include acentral processing unit (CPU) 10H1, an interface (I/F) 10H2, and anoutput device 10H3. Furthermore, the server 10 and the terminal 11include an input device 10H4, a hard disk (HD) 10H5, and a storagedevice 10H6. Furthermore, the hardware elements are coupled to eachother by a bus 10H7. Note that the server 10 and the plurality ofterminals 11 may have the same hardware configuration or may havedifferent hardware configurations. In this example described below, theserver 10 and the plurality of terminals 11 have the same hardwareconfiguration, and the server 10 is taken as an example.

The CPU 10H1 is an arithmetic device for performing calculations toimplement processing of various processes and various kinds of data, anda control device for controlling the hardware elements, etc. Note thatthe server 10 may include a plurality of arithmetic devices or controldevices.

The I/F 10H2 is, for example, a connector and a process integratedcircuit (IC), etc. For example, the I/F 10H2 sends and receives datawith an external device via a network, etc.

The output device 10H3 is a display, etc., for displaying a displayscreen and a graphical user interface (GUI), etc.

The input device 10H4 is a touch panel, a keyboard, a mouse, and amicrophone, or a combination of these elements, etc., used by the userfor inputting operations, etc. Note that the microphone is preferably aso-called directional microphone, which can recognize the direction ofthe sound source.

The HD 10H5 is an example of a secondary storage device. That is, the HD10H5 stores programs and files used for processes or data of varioussettings, etc.

The storage device 10H6 is a so-called memory, etc. That is, theprograms or data, etc. stored in the HD 10H5 are loaded in the storagedevice 10H6.

(Functional Configuration Example)

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of an example of the conferencesupport system 1 according to the first embodiment of the presentinvention. For example, the conference support system 1 includes aninputting unit 1F1, a control unit 1F2, a storage unit 1F3, and anoutputting unit 1F4.

For example, in the conference support system 1, the terminal 11(FIG. 1) includes the inputting unit 1F1 and the outputting unit 1F4.Furthermore, the server 10 (FIG. 1) includes the control unit 1F2 andthe storage unit 1F3. Note that the respective units may be included ineither the terminal 11 or the server 10.

The inputting unit 1F1 inputs the content of the statement stated in aconference (statement content). For example, the inputting unit 1F1 isrealized by the input device 10H4 (FIG. 2), etc.

The control unit 1F2 implements control to realize the respectiveprocesses. Specifically, the control unit 1F2 includes a determiningunit 1F21. Furthermore, as illustrated, the control unit 1F2 may alsoinclude a decorating unit 1F22, a time managing unit 1F23, and a speakerdetermining unit 1F24. For example, the control unit 1F2 is realized bythe CPU 10H1 (FIG. 2), etc.

The storage unit 1F3 stores data, etc., that is input in in advance. Thestorage unit 1F3 realizes a database, etc. Furthermore, the storage unit1F3 stores statement contents. For example, the storage unit 1F3 isrealized by the HD 10H5 (FIG. 2) and the storage device 10H6 (FIG. 2),etc.

The outputting unit 1F4 displays or prints, etc., conference contents,and outputs the conference contents, such as the conference minutes, anevaluation result, an abstract, statement contents, a determinationresult, or a combination of these items, to the participates, etc., ofthe conference, in a mode set in advance. For example, the outputtingunit 1F4 is realized by the output device 10H3 (FIG. 2), etc.

First, in the conference support system 1, during a conference, astatement content made in the conference is input by the person who hasstated the statement content (herein after, “speaker”) or the minutetaker, etc., to the inputting unit 1F1. Specifically, for example, thestatement content is input in a text format with a keyboard, etc. Notethat the statement contents may be contents input with a keyboard, etc.,after the participant has orally made a statement. In another example,when the participant inputs the contents that the participant wants tostate with a keyboard in an online conference, etc., held between remotelocations by using chat, etc., the statement contents may be thecontents input by chat, etc. Said differently, the statement contentsare not limited to contents that are stated orally. That is, thestatement contents may not be stated orally, but may be contents thatare input with a keyboard, etc.

In another example, the statement contents may be input by voice soundwith a microphone, etc. That is, when the statement contents are inputby voice sound, the conference support system 1 may recognize the inputvoice sound and generate text data, etc., based on the recognized voicesound. Furthermore, the statement contents may be input by handwritingin an electronic blackboard or a tablet terminal, etc. That is, when thestatement contents are input by handwritten characters, the conferencesupport system 1 may perform optical character recognition (OCR), etc.,on the input handwritten characters, and generate text data, etc.

Note that when the speaker determining unit 1F24 identifies who thespeaker is among the participants, the speaker determining unit 1F24 mayuse a plurality of directional microphones, etc., to associate thedirection in which the generation source of the voice sound isdetermined to be with the speaker, and identify the speaker among theparticipants. Alternatively, the speaker determining unit 1F24 mayperform voice sound authentication on the input voice sound data, andidentify the speaker based on the authentication result. Alternatively,the speaker determining unit 1F24 may capture an image of the speakerwith a camera, etc., coupled to the network 12 (FIG. 1), and performface authentication by using the captured image, to identify thespeaker.

Furthermore, the inputting unit 1F1 may input information foridentifying who has stated the statement content. Specifically, forexample, first, speaker information items are assigned in advance to aplurality of function keys (“F1” through “F12”) included in thekeyboard. Then, when inputting the statement contents, a function keymay be pressed to apply a speaker information item to the statementcontents, by the conference support system 1. In this way, the statementcontents and the speaker may be associated with each other.

Next, the conference support system 1 determines the type of the inputstatement, by the determining unit 1F21. Specifically, the type ofstatement (statement type) is, for example, “proposal”, “question”,“answer”, “positive opinion”, “negative opinion”, “neutral opinion”,“information”, “request”, “problem”, “action item” (hereinafter alsoreferred to as “A. I.”), and “determination item”, etc. In thefollowing, a description is given of an example of classifying thestatement contents into the statement types described above.

First, in the conference support system 1, expressions, which aredefined for each statement type, are stored in the storage unit 1F3 inadvance, for the purpose of determining the statement type. Furthermore,expressions are words, phrases, or terms, etc., and the statement typeand an expression unique to the statement type are stored in associationwith each other in the storage unit 1F3. Then, when the statementcontent is input by the inputting unit 1F1, the determining unit 1F21determines whether the statement content includes an expression storedin the storage unit 1F3. Next, when the statement content includes anexpression stored in the storage unit 1F3, the determining unit 1F21identifies the corresponding type from among the statement types. Inthis way, the conference support system 1 is able to determine thestatement type of the statement content stated during a conference.

Furthermore, the outputting unit 1F4 outputs the conference contents.For example, the outputting unit 1F4 decorates and displays thestatement content, based on the statement type determined by thedetermining unit 1F21.

(Input and Output Examples)

In the conference support system 1, for example, the terminals 11display the following screens and perform processes.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a screen displayed by the conferencesupport system 1 according to the first embodiment of the presentinvention. For example, a screen displayed on the display of eachterminal has a display and a graphical user interface (GUI) asillustrated. In the following, a description is given by taking theillustrated screen as an example.

In this example, in the screen, an agenda 301 and the objective of theconference, i.e., a goal 302, are output by the outputting unit 1F4.Note that when the agenda 301 and the goal 302 are displayed during theconference, the participant's recognition and the vector of thediscussion can be matched, etc. For this reason, the conference supportsystem 1 is able to reduce deviations, etc., in the conference.Furthermore, the agenda 301 and the goal 302 are set in advance beforethe conference or at the beginning of the conference, as describedbelow.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a setting screen for setting the agendaand the goal, etc., in the conference support system 1 according to thefirst embodiment of the present invention. For example, the illustratedsetting screen is displayed at the beginning of the conference, by theconference support system 1. Note that when the following settings aremade in the setting screen, and a start button 505 is subsequentlypressed, the settings are completed. That is, after the start button 505is pressed, the screen illustrated in FIG. 4, etc., is displayed by theconference support system 1.

As illustrated, the participant inputs an agenda in an agenda settingtext box 501. Then, the participant sets a goal for each agenda input inthe agenda setting text box 501. Note that the goal is input in, forexample, a goal setting text box 502. In this way, the agenda and thegoal input in the agenda setting text box 501 and the goal setting textbox 502 are displayed as the agenda 301 and the goal 302 as illustratedin FIG. 4, by the conference support system 1.

Furthermore, there are cases where an opening notice, etc., is createdin advance, before the conference is held. In this case, the agenda andthe goal described in the opening notice may be displayed as the agenda301 and the goal 302 as illustrated in FIG. 4, by the conference supportsystem 1. In this way, when an opening notice, etc., is reported to theparticipants of the conference in advance, the participants are able tomake preparations beforehand, and therefore the efficiency of theconference is increased. Furthermore, when an opening notice, etc., isreported to the participants of the conference in advance, theparticipants can determine whether they are able to participate in theagenda, and therefore the participants can avoid participating in aconference that is unnecessary.

Referring back to FIG. 4, in the screen, a present time 306, a timeallocation 307, and a progress status 308, etc., are displayed by theconference support system 1. Note that the present time 306 is displayedbased on a time set in advance or data indicating a time acquired via anetwork, etc. Furthermore, the time allocation 307 is displayed based onthe scheduled time for each agenda set in advance. For example, thescheduled time for each agenda is input in a scheduled time setting textbox 503 illustrated in FIG. 5. Furthermore, the progress status 308 isdisplayed by a so-called progress bar, etc., which indicates the ratioof the elapsed time, etc., as illustrated, based on the time that haspassed from the conference start time to the present time 306.

Furthermore, the following information may be displayed by the timemanaging unit 1F23 (FIG. 3) and the outputting unit 1F4 (FIG. 3). Forexample, when the scheduled end time of the entire conference or eachagenda approaches, the remaining time may be displayed, or an alertprompting to wrap up the conference may be displayed. For example, in anexample using the screen of FIG. 4, the conference support system 1displays the following information.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example where an alert and the remaining time aredisplayed on a screen displayed by the conference support system 1according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Asillustrated, the conference support system 1 may display a remainingtime 401 and an alert 402, etc. In the illustrated example, thedisplayed remaining time 401 indicates that the time from the presenttime until the scheduled end time of the entire conference is “less thanor equal to 10 minutes”. Furthermore, the displayed alert 402 indicatesa message to the participant to wrap up the conference, such as comingto a conclusion of the conference, because the remaining time of theconference is decreasing. When such a message is displayed, theparticipant is able to secure enough time for wrapping up thediscussion. Therefore, the conference support system 1 is able to reducecircumstances where the participants engage in a heated debate untilthere is no more time left, and the conclusion of the conference or theaction item, etc., becomes vague.

Note that the alert and the remaining time are not limited to beingoutput in the illustrated format. For example, the alert and theremaining time may be output by using a voice sound, etc.

Referring back to FIG. 4, a statement content 303 is displayed in thescreen. Note that the statement content 303 is decorated based on thedetermination result by the determining unit 1F21 (FIG. 3). For example,as illustrated, to each statement content, information indicating thetype of each statement is displayed and appended to the beginning or theend of each sentence. For example, the displayed and appendedinformation indicating the statement type is “Q:”, “A:”, “proposal:”,“opinion (P):”, “opinion (N):”, “information:”, “agenda:”, and “A. I.candidate”. Note that any kind of decoration may be used as long as thetype of each statement can be distinguished. For example, the decorationis made by applying different colors, using different typefaces such asitalics and bold, etc., using different types of fonts, adding acharacter to the end of the sentence or to the beginning of thesentence, or a combination of these decorations. Note that the type ofdecoration may be set in advance in the conference support system 1.Specifically, for example, a statement content that is determined to bea “positive opinion” is displayed in blue letters, and “opinion (P)” isappended to the beginning of the sentence. Furthermore, a statementcontent determined to be a “negative opinion” or a “problem” isdisplayed in red letters, and “opinion (N)” and “problem” are appendedto the beginning of the respective sentences. In this way, when thestatement type is indicated by decorations, the participant is able tointuitively recognize the important point in the conference, the contentof the discussion, and the tendency of the conference, etc. Note thatthe decoration may be processed by the server 10 (FIG. 1) or may beprocessed by a browser installed in the terminal 11 (FIG. 1).

Furthermore, when the speaker is identified, the speaker may bedisplayed by the conference support system 1 as illustrated. In theillustrated example, the name of the speaker is displayed inparenthesis. Note that the speaker may be displayed in a format otherthan the illustrated format. Furthermore, people who are candidatespeakers, i.e., participants, are set in advance in a participantsetting text box 504 in the setting screen of FIG. 5. Furthermore, asillustrated in FIG. 4, the participants set in the participant settingtext box 504 are displayed as in a participant display 305 by theconference support system 1.

Note that in the illustrated example, a setting is made such that afunction key is associated with each participant displayed in theparticipant display 305. For example, in the illustrated example, whenone of the participants “Sato” makes a statement, and the function key“F2” is pressed when inputting the statement content stated by “Sato” ina statement content input text box 304, the input statement content and“Sato” that is the speaker information are associated with each other.That is, in the illustrated example, when the function key “F2” ispressed when inputting a statement content in the statement contentinput text box 304, the conference support system 1 displays the inputstatement content with “(Sato)” appended to the statement content.

Furthermore, for example, the statement type is determined by a processdescribed below. In the following, a description is given of an examplewhere the statement types are “question”, “answer”, “proposal”,“problem”, and “opinion”.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process ofdetermining the type of statement content by the conference supportsystem 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

In step S01, the conference support system 1 initializes a questionflag. Specifically, the conference support system 1 sets “FALSE” in thequestion flag. Note that the question flag is an example of dataindicating whether the statement type of the last statement content,which has just been input, is “question”. In the following, when thequestion flag is “FALSE”, the question flag indicates that the statementtype of the last statement content is a statement type other than“question”. On the other hand, when the question flag is “TRUE”, thequestion flag indicates that the statement type of the last statementcontent is “question”.

In step S02, the conference support system 1 inputs the statementcontent. Specifically, the conference support system 1 inputs thestatement content by the inputting unit 1F1 (FIG. 3). That is, in theexample illustrated in FIG. 4, the statement content is input in thestatement content input text box 304 by text, etc.

In step S03, the conference support system 1 determines whether thequestion flag is “TRUE”. When the question flag is “TRUE” (YES in stepS03), next, the conference support system 1 proceeds to step S04. On theother hand, when the question flag is not “TRUE”, that is, when thequestion flag is “FALSE” (NO in step S03), the conference support system1 proceeds to step S05.

In step S04, the conference support system 1 determines that thestatement type of the statement content is “answer”. Note that “answer”is a statement content that is returned to a statement contentcorresponding to a statement type “question”. Therefore, freeexpressions are allowed to be used in “answer”. That is, there are caseswhere it is not possible to set expressions for determining that thestatement type is “answer” in advance. Therefore, as in step S03, theconference support system 1 determines whether the last statementcontent is “question”, that is, the conference support system 1determines whether the statement type of the statement content is“answer”, according to the question flag. That is, when the laststatement content is “question”, the conference support system 1determines that the statement type of the next statement content is“answer”. On the other hand, when the last statement content is otherthan “question”, the conference support system 1 determines that thestatement type of the next statement content is other than “answer”. Inthis way, the conference support system 1 classifies the statementcontents of “answer”. Furthermore, in step S04, the conference supportsystem 1 sets the question flag as “FALSE”.

In step S05, the conference support system 1 determines whether thestatement content includes expressions of “question”. For example, theconference support system 1 determines the statement type of thestatement content, according to the auxiliary verb part in the statementcontent. Specifically, first, expressions such as “?”, “is it?”, and “isit not?”, etc., are stored in the storage unit 1F3 (FIG. 3) in advance.Next, the conference support system 1 determines, by the determiningunit 1F21 (FIG. 3), whether all or part of the statement contents inputby the inputting unit 1F1 (FIG. 3) match a stored expression. That is,the determination is made by so-called pattern matching, etc.

When the conference support system 1 determines that the statementcontent includes an expression of “question” in step S05 (YES in stepS05), next, the conference support system 1 proceeds to step S06. On theother hand, when the conference support system 1 determines that thestatement content does not include an expression of “question” in stepS05 (NO in step S05), the conference support system 1 proceeds to stepS08.

In step S06, the conference support system 1 determines that thestatement type of the statement content is “question”.

In step S07, the conference support system 1 sets “TRUE” in the questionflag.

In step S08, the conference support system 1 determines whether thestatement content includes expressions of “proposal”. For example,similar to the case of “question”, the conference support system 1determines the statement type of the statement content, according to theauxiliary verb part in the statement content. Specifically, first,expressions such as “should be” and “preferable to do”, etc., are storedin the storage unit 1F3 (FIG. 3) in advance. Next, the conferencesupport system 1 determines, by the determining unit 1F21 (FIG. 3),whether all or part of the statement contents input by the inputtingunit 1F1 (FIG. 3) match a stored expression.

When the conference support system 1 determines that the statementcontent includes an expression of “proposal” in step S08 (YES in stepS08), next, the conference support system 1 proceeds to step S09. On theother hand, when the conference support system 1 determines that thestatement content does not include an expression of “proposal” in stepS08 (NO in step S08), the conference support system 1 proceeds to stepS10.

In step S09, the conference support system 1 determines that thestatement type of the statement content is “proposal”.

In step S10, the conference support system 1 determines whether thestatement content includes expressions of “problem”. For example,similar to the case of “question”, the conference support system 1determines the statement type of the statement content, according to theauxiliary verb part in the statement content. Specifically, first,expressions such as “need to do” and “have to do”, etc., are stored inthe storage unit 1F3 (FIG. 3) in advance. Next, the conference supportsystem 1 determines, by the determining unit 1F21 (FIG. 3), whether allor part of the statement contents input by the inputting unit 1F1 (FIG.3) match a stored expression.

When the conference support system 1 determines that the statementcontent includes an expression of “problem” in step S10 (YES in stepS10), next, the conference support system 1 proceeds to step S11. On theother hand, when the conference support system 1 determines that thestatement content does not include an expression of “problem” in stepS10 (NO in step S10), the conference support system 1 proceeds to stepS12.

In step S11, the conference support system 1 determines that thestatement type of the statement content is “problem”.

In step S12, the conference support system 1 determines that thestatement type of the statement content is “opinion”.

As described above, steps S02 through S12 are repeatedly performed foreach statement content. By performing such a process, the conferencesupport system 1 is able to determine the statement type of thestatement content.

Furthermore, the conference support system 1 may display an abstract.For example, when operations as described below are performed, theconference support system 1 switches between an abstract and the fulltext.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a screen for switching between anabstract and the full text by the conference support system 1 accordingto the first embodiment of the present invention. The illustrated screenis an example of a screen that is displayed during a conference. When auser presses an abstract instruction button BN1 in FIG. 8, on which amessage reading “display extracted important text” is displayed, theconference support system 1 switches the screen to display the abstract.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process of switchingbetween an abstract and the full text by the conference support system 1according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Theconference support system 1 performs the illustrated process to generatean abstract. Note that in the following, the statement types are“proposal”, “question”, “answer”, “positive opinion”, “negativeopinion”, “neutral opinion”, “information”, “request”, “problem”,“action item”, and “determination item”, etc.

In step S21, the conference support system 1 initializes an abstractflag. Specifically, the conference support system 1 sets “FALSE” in theabstract flag. Note that the abstract flag is a flag for switchingbetween displaying an abstract by extracting important parts of theinput statement contents, and displaying the full text indicating theall of the statement contents. In the following, when the abstract flagis “FALSE”, the conference support system 1 assumes that a setting ismade to display the full text. On the other hand, when the abstract flagis “TRUE”, the conference support system 1 assumes that a setting ismade to display the abstract.

In step S22, the conference support system 1 accepts that the abstractinstruction button BN1 (FIG. 8) is pressed. Every time this abstractinstruction button BN1 is pressed, the screen display is switchedbetween the full text and the abstract.

In step S23, the conference support system 1 determines whether theabstract flag is “TRUE”. When the abstract flag is determined to be“TRUE” (YES in step S23), next, the conference support system 1 proceedsto step S24. On the other hand, when the abstract flag is not determinedto be “TRUE”, that is, when the abstract flag is determined to be“FALSE” (NO in step S23), the conference support system 1 proceeds tostep S26.

In step S24, the conference support system 1 displays the full text.Specifically, for example, the conference support system 1 displays thescreen illustrated in FIG. 8. That is, in the full text, the conferencesupport system 1 displays all types of statement contents, among theinput statement contents.

In step S25, the conference support system 1 sets the abstract flag as“FALSE”.

In step S26, the conference support system 1 displays the abstract.Specifically, for example, a screen as described below is displayed bythe conference support system 1.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a screen indicating an abstract thatis displayed by the conference support system 1 according to the firstembodiment of the present invention. Compared to the screen of FIG. 8,the screen of FIG. 10 is different in that an abstract display ABS isdisplayed.

The abstract is a result obtained by extracting the important statementcontents among the input statement contents. The conference supportsystem 1 determines whether a statement content is an importantstatement content based on whether the type of the statement content isa statement type that has been set as important in advance. For example,the abstract is a result obtained by extracting the statement contentsdetermined to be of the statement types “proposal”, “problem”, and“action item”, among all of the types of statement contents that areinput. That is, an abstract is conference minutes generated as theconference support system 1 extracts the statement contents ofpredetermined statement types, from among the input statement contents.Note that in the illustrated example, the conference support system 1has extracted statement contents determined to be of the statement typesof “problem” and “action item”, from the full text illustrated in FIG.8, to generate an abstract. As illustrated, the conference supportsystem 1 displays the statement contents of the target statement types,and hides the statement contents of the other statement types. That is,when the abstract illustrated in FIG. 10 is displayed, the participantcan easily create an action item. In this way, when an abstract isdisplayed, the participant is able to review the points of theconference. Therefore, the conference support system 1 is able to letthe participants organize the problem, the action item, or thedetermination item, without missing any of these important statements.In this way, the conference support system 1 can increase the efficiencyof the conference.

Referring back to FIG. 9, in step S27, the conference support system 1sets “TRUE” in the abstract flag.

As described above, steps S22 through S27 are repeatedly performed bythe conference support system 1. By performing such a process, theconference support system 1 is able to switch the display between fulltext and an abstract.

Second Embodiment

A second embodiment is realized by, for example, the same overallconfiguration and hardware configuration as those of the firstembodiment. Therefore, descriptions of the overall configuration andhardware configuration are omitted, and the different points are mainlydescribed below. The functional configuration of the second embodimentis different from that of the first embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram of an example of the conferencesupport system 1 according to the second embodiment of the presentinvention. Compared to FIG. 3, the functional configuration of FIG. 11is different in that the control unit 1F2 includes a cost calculatingunit 1F31 and an evaluating unit 1F32.

Furthermore, as illustrated, the conference support system 1 preferablyfurther includes a translation processing unit 1F5.

The cost calculating unit 1F31 calculates the cost that arises as aconference is held, based on the labor costs of the participants.

The evaluating unit 1F32 evaluates the conference, based on the timeduring which the conference is held, the number of statement contents,the statement types, and the ratio of the statement types, etc.

The calculation of the cost by the cost calculating unit 1F31 and theevaluation by the evaluating unit 1F32 are performed, for example, whena summary button 309 that is the “to summary/saving screen” button asillustrated in FIG. 4 is pressed, or when an alert 402 as illustrated inFIG. 6 is displayed, etc. For example, the conference support system 1displays a summary screen as described below.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of a summary screen displayed by theconference support system 1 according to the second embodiment of thepresent invention. In the illustrated example of the screen, theconference support system 1 displays, in an agenda display 801, anagenda set by the agenda setting text box 501 (FIG. 5), etc., in theopening notice or at the beginning of the conference. Furthermore, inthe illustrated example of the screen, the conference support system 1displays, in a goal display 802, a goal set by the goal setting text box502 (FIG. 5), etc., in the opening notice or at the beginning of theconference.

Based on the contents displayed in the agenda display 801 and the goaldisplay 802, a conclusion of the discussions is input to a conclusioninput text box 803. Furthermore, based on the contents displayed in theagenda display 801 and the goal display 802, an action item that hasbeen determined in the conference is input to an action item input textbox 804. Note that with respect to the action item, a date, i.e., adeadline, etc., may be set. Also, a person in charge may be set withrespect to the action item. Furthermore, in the action item input textbox 804, a statement content, which is determined to be an “action item”by the conference support system 1, may be displayed as a candidateaction item. Alternatively, a sentence obtained by performing a sentencecompression process described below on a statement content determined tobe an “action item”, or a sentence obtained by organizing the expressionof the end of the sentence determined to be an “action item” to create asimple expression, may be displayed as a candidate action item.

Furthermore, the conference support system 1 displays the calculation ofthe cost by the cost calculating unit 1F31 (FIG. 11) and the evaluationby the evaluating unit 1F32 (FIG. 11) in, for example, an evaluationscreen as described below.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of an evaluation screen displayed by theconference support system 1 according to the second embodiment of thepresent invention. For example, the conference support system 1 displaysthe cost and evaluation result of a conference by points and amounts,etc., as illustrated.

Conference points 901 are the total points obtained by calculating thesum of achievement evaluation points 902, conference time evaluationpoints 903, activation level evaluation points 904, and forwardnessevaluation points 905.

The achievement evaluation points 902 are an evaluation resultindicating whether a conclusion has been input with respect to each goalthat has been set in advance, with respect to each agenda set by theagenda setting text box 501 (FIG. 5). For example, when four agendashave been set by the agenda setting text box 501 (FIG. 5), and twoconclusions have been input with respect to the four agendas, theconference support system 1 sets the achievement evaluation points 902to be half the full points.

The conference time evaluation points 903 are an evaluation resultobtained by comparing the scheduled time set by the opening notice orthe scheduled time setting text box 503 (FIG. 5), and the time length ofthe conference. For example, when the time length of the conference, isshorter than the scheduled time, the conference time evaluation points903 become high. On the other hand, when the time length of theconference is longer than the scheduled time, the conference timeevaluation points 903 become low.

The activation level evaluation points 904 are an evaluation resultobtained by making an evaluation based on the number of statementcontents or the number of statement contents per unit time, etc. Forexample, when the number of statement contents or the number ofstatement contents per unit time is large, the activation levelevaluation points 904 become high. On the other hand, when the number ofstatement contents or the number of statement contents per unit time issmall, the activation level evaluation points 904 become low. Therefore,when the activation level evaluation points 904 are low, there may be apossibility that the conference is unnecessary but the conference isbeing used as a place for sharing information, or people who areunrelated to the agenda are assembled and the people are doing side jobsduring the conference. Therefore, the conference support system 1 feedsback these possibilities to prompt an improvement in the operations ofconferences.

The forwardness evaluation points 905 are an evaluation result obtainedby making an evaluation based on the statement types and the ratio ofstatement types determined by the determining unit 1F21 (FIG. 11). Forexample, when the ratio of statement contents of the statement type“proposal” is high, the forwardness evaluation points 905 become high.On the other hand, when the ratio of statement contents of the statementtype “proposal” is low, the forwardness evaluation points 905 becomelow. Therefore, when the forwardness evaluation points 905 are low,there may be a possibility that there are many criticisms and comments,etc., in the conference, and a conclusion cannot be obtained. Therefore,the conference support system 1 may suggest this possibility to promptthe participants to give constructive opinions to attain a goal.

The conference support system 1 makes the above evaluations by theevaluating unit 1F32 (FIG. 11). Next, the conference support system 1may output the evaluation results to a screen, etc., by the outputtingunit 1F4 (FIG. 11), to feed back the objective evaluation results of theconference to the participants. In this way, by feeding back theevaluation results, the conference support system 1 is able to suggestto the participants where the problem may lie in the conference, etc.,or make the participants to be aware of the time taken by theconference. Accordingly, the conference support system 1 is able tocause the participants to reconsider the members to participate in theconference or how to proceed with the conference.

Note that the evaluation results, the number of statement contents, andthe statement types may be displayed by the conference support system 1during the conference. For example, in the example illustrated in FIG.4, the evaluation results, etc., may be displayed as in an evaluationdisplay 310. That is, the evaluation results may be displayed in areal-time manner during the conference. In this way, for example, theconference support system 1 is able to prompt a participant who is notmaking many statements, to make more statements.

Furthermore, the conference support system 1 may weight the statementcontent that is determined to be a “problem” or a “proposal”, etc., inthe evaluation process. In this way, the conference support system 1 isable to prompt the participants to state many statement contents of thestatement types “problem” and “proposal”, etc. Thus, the conferencesupport system 1 is able to promote more beneficial discussions.

Furthermore, in the evaluation screen, the conference support system 1may display a calculation result of the cost, etc. For example, the costcalculating unit 1F31 (FIG. 11) calculates the cost based on aconference time 906 and the labor costs, etc., of the participants. Thecalculated cost is displayed, for example, as a cost display 907, etc.

In order to calculate the cost, first, in the conference support system1, the labor cost per unit time of a participant is input. Note that thelabor cost may be a uniformly fixed cost among all participants, ordifferent labor costs may be set for the respective posts of theparticipants. Furthermore, the labor costs may be set based on theactual salaries, etc., of the participants.

Next, the conference support system 1 measures the elapsed time from theconference start time until the conference ends, and displays themeasurement result in the conference time 906. Then, the conferencesupport system 1 multiples the labor cost per unit time of eachparticipant by the conference time 906, to calculate the cost of eachparticipant. Next, the conference support system 1 obtains the total sumof the costs of the participants, and displays the calculation result inthe cost display 907.

Furthermore, the conference support system 1 may display the evaluationresult of each participant in the evaluation screen. For example, theevaluation result of each participant is displayed as a contributionlevel display 908, etc.

For example, the contribution level display 908 indicates the evaluationresult of each participant, based on the statement type and the numberof statement contents, etc., determined by the determining unit 1F21(FIG. 11). Note that the statement content is associated with theparticipant that has stated the statement content, by the speakerdetermining unit 1F24 illustrated in FIG. 3.

For example, the contribution level display 908 is calculated by theconference support system 1 as described below. First, the participantsets a weight to a statement type that is considered to be important inline with the objective of the conference, such as “1 point” for“neutral opinion”, and “5 points” for “problem” and “proposal”. Notethat in the conference support system 1, a high weight is preferably setfor constructive opinions such as “problem” and “proposal”. By settingthe weight as above, the conference support system 1 is able to promotebeneficial discussions toward problem-solving.

Next, the conference support system 1 makes an evaluation for eachparticipant, according to the product of the determination result by thedetermining unit 1F21 and the number of statement contents. The valuecalculated by this evaluation is the “contribution level” and the“gained points” indicated in the contribution level display 908. In thisway, when the conference support system 1 feeds back the “contributionlevel”, etc., to the participants, the participants are able use the“contribution level”, etc., to revise the members to participate in theconference. Thus, the conference support system 1 is able to promotemore beneficial discussions. Furthermore, it is possible to reduce thenumber of unnecessary members among the participants, and therefore theconference support system 1 is able to reduce the cost of theconference.

Note that the screens indicated above may be shared in a real-timemanner among the terminals 11 coupled to the network 12 illustrated inFIG. 1. Accordingly, even when a conference is held at a locationwithout a display, if the participants bring along the terminals 11 suchas notebook PCs, the participants can look at the above screens whileholding the conference.

Furthermore, the statement contents, etc., may be edited in a sharedmanner from the respective terminals 11. For example, the server 10 mayconvert the contents, etc., displayed on the screen into a Hyper TextMarkup Language (HTML) file, etc., and send the HTML file to therespective terminals 11. Next, when the statement contents, etc., areinput, and data indicating the statement contents, etc., is sent to theserver 10, the server 10 sends a HTML file in which the new statementcontents, etc., are applied, to the respective terminals 11.

Furthermore, for the purpose of sharing a screen in a real-time manner,for example, a protocol for bidirectional communication such asWebSocket is used. WebSocket is a protocol disclosed in“https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebSocket”, etc.

Note that a translation process may be performed on the words displayedin the screen. For example, when a statement content, etc., is input,and data indicating the statement content, etc., is sent to the server10, the server 10 translates the statement content, and generates a HTMLfile indicating the statement content before translation and thestatement content after translation. Next, the server 10 sends the HTMLfile indicating the statement content before translation and thestatement content after translation, to the respective terminals 11.Accordingly, even if the participants speak different languages, theconference support system 1 can reduce miscommunications.

The translation process is implemented by the translation processingunit 1F5 (FIG. 11). For example, the translation processing unit 1F5 hasa functional configuration including a translating unit, a translationlanguage setting unit, and a translation result storage processing unit,etc., as described below. Specifically, the translation process isrealized by a method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent ApplicationPublication No. 2015-153408, etc. Note that the translation processingunit 1F5 is realized by, for example, the CPU 10H1 (FIG. 2), etc.

First, the translation language setting unit sets the language spoken bythe participant (hereinafter referred to as “input language”) and thelanguage after translating the input language (hereinafter referred toas “translated language”), based on the user's operations.

Then, the translating unit refers to a language model and a worddictionary to perform a part of speech decomposing process and sentencestructure analysis on the statement contents input in the inputlanguage. In this way, the translating unit translates the statementcontents input in the input language, into the translated language.

Next, the translation result storage processing unit stores thecharacters, etc., in the translated language generated according to thetranslation performed by the translating unit, as a text file, etc.Then, the conference support system 1 may output the characters, etc.,in the translated language stored in the translation result storageprocessing unit.

Furthermore, the respective terminals 11 may perform userauthentication. For example, user authentication is performed byinputting a user name in an input text box for inputting a user name,displayed on the screen. Alternatively, user authentication may beperformed by using an integrated circuit (IC) card or a radio-frequencyidentification device (RFID), etc. Accordingly, similar to theallocation of function keys in FIG. 4, the speaker and the statementcontent may be associated with each other based on the authenticationresult of user authentication described above, and the terminal in whichthe statement content has been input. Note that the information relevantto the speaker may be decorated by being colored, or having informationappended to the beginning or the end of each sentence, similar to thefirst embodiment.

Furthermore, a subjective evaluation may be input with respect to thestatement content, and the conference support system 1 may make anevaluation based on the input subjective evaluation. For example, asubjective evaluation is input as follows.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example of a screen for inputting a subjectiveevaluation displayed by the conference support system 1 according to thesecond embodiment of the present invention. Compared to FIG. 6, theexample of the screen illustrated in FIG. 14 is different in that asubjective evaluation button 1001 is added to each of the displayedstatement contents.

As illustrated, the subjective evaluation button 1001 is displayed foreach statement content. Then, when each participant determines that theparticipant himself supports the statement content, the participantpresses the subjective evaluation button 1001 displayed for thestatement content that the participant supports. Note that thesubjective evaluation button 1001 may be pressed by the participant whois in charge of inputting information, or may be pressed by therespective participants based on their own determinations. Furthermore,the subjective evaluation button 1001 may be pressed when a participantdoes not support the statement content. In this way, when the subjectiveevaluation is input, the conference support system 1 is able to evaluatewhether each statement content is a good statement, based on thesubjective evaluations of the participants. Then, the conference supportsystem 1 can display the evaluation result based on the subjectiveevaluations, and prompt the participants to make good statements toachieve the objective of the conference.

Furthermore, the conference support system 1 may decorate and displaythe statement contents, based on input according to the subjectiveevaluation button 1001. For example, in the illustrated screen, theconference support system 1 displays the statement content for which thesubjective evaluation button 1001 has been pressed, as an enlargeddisplay 1002. As illustrated, in the enlarged display 1002, thestatement content is decorated such that the font size of the charactersindicating the statement content is larger than those of the otherstatement contents. In this way, when the statement content is decoratedand output, the participant can intuitively recognize the statementcontent that is supported, among the statement contents. Furthermore,the conference support system 1 may display the status of pros and conswith respect to a statement content, such as who is agreeing with aparticular opinion and who is disagreeing with the particular opinion,by using user information.

Note that decorations are realized, for example, by changing thedescription of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) by using a language such asJavaScript (registered trademark), using the information indicatingsupport or non-support.

Furthermore, when displaying an abstract, the conference support system1 may display a statement content that is determined to be an importantstatement based on the input subjective evaluations, in addition todisplaying the statement contents based on the statement types.Accordingly, the participant can further understand the development ofthe discussion until a conclusion is achieved. That is, accordingly, theconference support system 1 is able to generate effective conferenceminutes for reviewing the conference and sharing information.

Furthermore, the evaluating unit 1F32 (FIG. 11) may evaluate theconference based on the time length of the conference. For example, theevaluating unit 1F32 (FIG. 11) makes an evaluation as follows.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of an example of a process of making anevaluation based on the time length of the conference, performed by theconference support system 1 according to the second embodiment of thepresent invention.

In step S31, the conference support system 1 accepts that an evaluationbutton has been pressed. For example, when an evaluation button saying“evaluate this conference” of FIG. 10 is pressed, the conference supportsystem 1 starts the evaluation. Furthermore, it is assumed that the timeduring which a conference is held is the time from when the conferencehas started to when the conference has ended (hereinafter referred to as“elapsed time”). Furthermore, it is assumed that the scheduled timelength of the conference (hereinafter, simply referred to as “scheduledtime”) is assumed to be input in the conference support system 1 inadvance, such as before the evaluation button is pressed.

In step S32, the conference support system 1 determines whether theelapsed time has exceeded the scheduled time by greater than or equal to10%. When the conference support system 1 determines that the elapsedtime has exceeded the scheduled time by greater than or equal to 10%(YES in step S32), the conference support system 1 proceeds to step S33.On the other hand, when the conference support system 1 determines thatthe elapsed time has not exceeded the scheduled time by greater than orequal to 10% (NO in step S32), the conference support system 1 proceedsto step S34.

In step S33, the conference support system 1 sets the evaluation pointsas “0” points.

In step S34, the conference support system 1 determines whether theelapsed time has exceeded the scheduled time by less than 10%. When theconference support system 1 determines that the elapsed time hasexceeded the scheduled time by less than 10% (YES in step S34), next,the conference support system 1 proceeds to step S35. On the other hand,when the conference support system 1 determines that the elapsed timehas not exceeded the scheduled time by less than 10% (NO in step S34),next, the conference support system 1 proceeds to step S36.

In step S35, the conference support system 1 sets the evaluation pointsas “5” points.

In step S36, the conference support system 1 determines whether theelapsed time has exceeded the scheduled time by less than 5%. When theconference support system 1 determines that the elapsed time hasexceeded the scheduled time by less than 5% (YES in step S36), next, theconference support system 1 proceeds to step S37. On the other hand,when the conference support system 1 determines that the elapsed timehas not exceeded the scheduled time by less than 5% (NO in step S36),next, the conference support system 1 proceeds to step S38.

In step S37, the conference support system 1 sets the evaluation pointsas “10” points.

In step S38, the conference support system 1 determines whether theelapsed time is shorter than the scheduled time by greater than or equalto 10%. When the conference support system 1 determines that the elapsedtime is shorter than the scheduled time by greater than or equal to 10%(YES in step S38), next, the conference support system 1 proceeds tostep S39. On the other hand, when the conference support system 1determines that the elapsed time is not shorter than the scheduled timeby greater than or equal to 10% (NO in step S38), next, the conferencesupport system 1 proceeds to step S40.

In step S39, the conference support system 1 sets the evaluation pointsas “25” points.

In step S40, the conference support system 1 determines whether theelapsed time is shorter than the scheduled time by greater than or equalto 5%. When the conference support system 1 determines that the elapsedtime is shorter than the scheduled time by greater than or equal to 5%(YES in step S40), next, the conference support system 1 proceeds tostep S41. On the other hand, when the conference support system 1determines that the elapsed time is not shorter than the scheduled timeby greater than or equal to 5% (NO in step S40), next, the conferencesupport system 1 proceeds to step S42.

In step S41, the conference support system 1 sets the evaluation pointsas “20” points.

In step S42, the conference support system 1 sets the evaluation pointsas “15” points.

For example, as illustrated, the conference support system 1 makes anevaluation to give high evaluation points in a case where the elapsedtime is shorter than the scheduled time. On the other hand, theconference support system 1 makes an evaluation to give low evaluationpoints in a case where the elapsed time has exceeded the scheduled time.Note that the values of evaluation points and the determinationstandards are not limited to the illustrated values and determinations,and may be changed by settings, etc. As illustrated, the conferencesupport system 1 displays the evaluated evaluation points.

Furthermore, as illustrated in FIG. 13, the conference support system 1may display the evaluation results with star marks, etc., as illustratedin FIG. 13. Furthermore, the conference support system 1 may alsodisplay a comment prompting to transform actions, as illustrated in FIG.13. Furthermore, the conference support system 1 may also display anevaluation result relevant to the time, together with the otherevaluation results, as illustrated in FIG. 13. In this way, when anevaluation result, which is obtained by evaluating the conference basedon the time length of the conference, is displayed, the conferencesupport system 1 is able to make the participants be aware of the timerelevant to the conference, and prompt the participants to achieve theobjective within the scheduled time. In this way, the conference supportsystem 1 is able to increase the efficiency of the conference.

Third Embodiment

A third embodiment is realized by, for example, the same overallconfiguration, hardware configuration, and functional configuration asthose of the first embodiment. In the following, the different pointsare mainly described. The determination method by the determining unit1F21 (FIG. 3) of the third embodiment is different from that of thefirst embodiment.

In the third embodiment, the conference support system 1 sets a corpuswith tags as training data. Then, the conference support system 1performs so-called supervised learning, etc., which is a method ofmachine learning, to learn a classifier for performing a naturallanguage process. In the following, a description is given of an examplewhere the tags, i.e., the statement types, are “proposal”, “question”,“answer”, “positive opinion”, “negative opinion”, “neutral opinion”,“information”, “request”, “problem”, “action item”, and “determinationitem”, etc.

Furthermore, the method of machine learning is, for example, supportvector machine (SVM), Naive Bayes classifier, decision tree learning, orConditional Random Fields (CRF). Note that the method of machinelearning is preferably support vector machine. In the case of supportvector machine, determinations can be sequentially made, and thereforethe so-called real-time properties are improved.

A classifier determines the statement type based on the characteristic(hereinafter referred to as “feature”) of the statement content.Specifically, the features are an adverb, an adjective, a noun, or anauxiliary verb included in the statement contents. For example, anadjective may indicate a positive expression or a negative expression.Furthermore, a noun may be an expression indicating an “action item” anda “problem” such as “to be reviewed” and “to reply”, in addition to aposition expression or a negative expression. Furthermore, an auxiliaryverb may be an expression indicating wish, obligation, necessity,request, proposal, predication, supposition, hearsay, and evaluation, atthe end of a sentence. Therefore, when the classifier determines thestatement type based on the feature, the conference support system 1 candetermine the statement type with high precision.

Furthermore, the conference support system 1 may be able to set the typeof conference according to the users. For example, the same statementcontent may have different features, depending on whether the conferenceis held between staff members in the field, or whether the conference isa review conference. Specifically, in a conference held between staffmembers in the field, the feature of the statement content is “demand”.On the other hand, in a review conference, the feature of the statementgiven by a decision maker may be “action item” or “determination item”.These labels and the type of conference are highly related. Therefore,by setting the type of conference, the conference support system 1 isable to determine the statement type with high precision.

Furthermore, the conference support system 1 may estimate the role ofthe speaker based on the statement content, and use the role as thefeature. For example, in a review conference or a debrief session, etc.,a speaker, who states many statement contents that are “questions.” withrespect to statement contents of the report content, is estimated to bea decision maker. Also, a speaker, who states many statement contentsthat are “problems”, is estimated to be an expert with respect to thetopic of the conference.

By using results obtained by the above estimations as features, in thelearning and the determining of a classifier, the conference supportsystem 1 can determine the statement type with high precision, evenwithout setting the decision maker, etc., in the conference supportsystem 1.

For example, the conference support system 1 performs a natural languageprocess using machine learning, by a method described in “The basics ofnatural language process”, written by Manabu Okumura and published byCorona Publishing, Co., Ltd.

FIG. 16 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a naturallanguage process using machine learning by the conference support system1 according to the third embodiment of the present invention. Asillustrated, the conference support system 1 learns a classifier CLF bysupervised learning. First, data expressing an assembly of pairs offeatures and values, is input in the classifier CLF, and the classifierCLF outputs the class to which the input test data TSD belongs. A classis indicated by a class label CLB. That is, a class label CLB indicatesthe result of determining the statement type of the statement contentindicated by the test data TSD.

In order to learn the classifier CLF by a machine learning algorithm, asillustrated, the conference support system 1 inputs an assembly of pairsof data and a class to which the data belongs, as training data TRD.Next, when the training data TRD is input, the conference support system1 learns the classifier CLF by the machine learning algorithm. In thisway, after learning the classifier CLF, when the test data TSD is input,the conference support system 1 is able to output the class to which thetest data TSD belongs, by the classifier CLF. According to the aboveconfiguration, by inputting information of words around the words of thestatement content that is the determination target, the conferencesupport system 1 is able to learn the classifier that can output themeanings of the words.

By the method of determining the statement type by using the classifierCLF, the conference support system 1 is able to determine the statementtype with higher precision, compared to the method of using patternmatching, etc. Furthermore, by the method of determining the statementtype by using the classifier CLF, the labor hours taken for updating thedata can be reduced, compared to the method of using pattern matching,etc. That is, when the method of determining the statement type by usingthe classifier CLF is used, the so-called maintenance properties can beimproved.

Furthermore, the participant may be able to change the class labels. Inthis way, when the class label CLB, which is obtained as a result ofdetermination by the classifier CLF, indicates a different class fromthe class intended by the participant, the participant can change theclass. For example, when the conference support system 1 determines astatement content stated by a participant to be an “opinion”, but theparticipant thinks his statement is a “question”, the participantperforms an operation of chaining the class label from “opinion” to“question”.

As described above, by performing the operation of changing the classlabel and feeding back the change, the conference support system 1 isable to learn the classifier CLF, in the same way as a case where thetraining data TRD is input in machine learning. Therefore, theconference support system 1 can learn the classifier CLF with less laborhours taken for updating the data. Thus, the conference support system 1is able to determine the statement type with high precision.

In another example, the conference support system 1 may determine thestatement type based on the person who has stated the statement content.For example, in a conference, it is assumed that there is a person whois always stating many “problems” and a person who is always statingmany “negative opinions”. In this case, the conference support system 1may identify the person who has stated the statement content, todetermine the statement type of “problem” and “negative opinion”, etc.Furthermore, the conference support system 1 may use the information ofthe identified person who has stated the statement content, as thefeature. In this way, the conference support system 1 is able todetermine the statement type in consideration of the tendency of theperson stating the statement content. Therefore, the conference supportsystem 1 is able to determine the statement type with high precision.

Furthermore, the conference support system 1 may determine the statementtype based on the role of the person who has stated the statementcontent, in the conference. For example, in a conference that is adebrief session, etc., the conference support system 1 may determine thestatement type based on the fact that the statement content is stated bya “decision maker”, when the person who has stated the statement contentis a “decision maker”. In this way, the conference support system 1 isable to determine the statement type in consideration of the tendency ofthe person who has stated the statement content. Therefore, theconference support system 1 is able to determine the statement type withhigh precision. Particularly, the conference support system 1 is able todetermine the statement types of “action item” and “determination item”,etc., with high precision.

Furthermore, when there are many statement types, i.e., labels, theprecision in determination may decrease. Therefore, the conferencesupport system 1 may divide the statement types into groups. Adescription is given of an example where the statement types are“proposal”, “question”, “answer”, “positive opinion”, “negativeopinion”, “neutral opinion”, “information”, “request”, “problem”,“action item”, and “determination item”.

For example, the statement types are divided into a “first group” and a“second group” as described below.

First group: “proposal”, “question”, “answer”, “positive opinion”,“negative opinion”, “neutral opinion”, “information”, and “request”

Second group: “action item”, and “determination item”

Then, the conference support system 1 determines the statement type ofthe statement content, among the statement types in the “first group”.Next, the conference support system 1 determines the statement type ofthe statement content, among the statement types in the “second group”.In the configuration of FIG. 16, a classifier CLF is prepared for eachgroup.

For example, it is assumed that a participant has stated a statementcontent of “please somehow handle this case among a plurality of staffmembers”. The conference support system 1 determines that the statementtype of this statement content is “answer” in the first group, and also“action item” in the second group.

For example, it is assumed that statement contents of the statementtypes “action item” and “determination item” are important in theconference. In this case, when the important statement types areselected and grouped together as in the second group described above,the conference support system 1 is able to determine the statementcontents of the important statement types with high precision.Furthermore, the number of the statement types in each group is lessthan that of a case where the statement types are not grouped, andtherefore the conference support system 1 is able to determine thestatement types with high precision.

Furthermore, the conference support system 1 may display candidateconclusions or candidate determination items with respect to thestatement contents. For example, the conference support system 1displays statement contents to be candidate conclusions or candidatedetermination items as “conclusion”, “determination item”, or “problem”,etc., in the action item input text box 804 in FIG. 12.

Furthermore, the conference support system 1 may display an icon, etc.,of a trash box beside the action item input text box 804. Then, when theuser determines that there is an inappropriate candidate among thecandidates of “conclusion”, “determination item”, or “problem”, etc.,displayed in the action item input text box 804 by the conferencesupport system 1, the user uses the icon of the trash box to perform anoperation of deleting the inappropriate candidate. In this way, theconference support system 1 may delete a displayed candidate, based on auser's operation. Furthermore, when deleting the candidate, theconference support system 1 also corrects the label of the supervisordata. Then, the conference support system 1 uses the corrected data,that is, the statement contents and the labels, to relearn theclassifier. Accordingly, the conference support system 1 can learn theclassifier even more.

Furthermore, the user may perform an operation of adding candidates of“conclusion”, “determination item”, or “problem”, etc., to be displayedin the action item input text box 804. That is, the user may addcandidates that have not been cited by the conference support system 1,in the action item input text box 804. For example, the conferencesupport system 1 displays a pull-down menu. Then, the user performs anoperation of selecting a label to be added, from the pull-down menu.Note that the user may perform an operation of correcting the candidatesdisplayed by the conference support system 1. Based on these correctionresults, the labels of the supervisor data are also corrected. In thisway, the conference support system 1 may relearn the classifier.

In order to perform the above operations, for example, the following GUIis used.

FIG. 17 illustrates an example of a GUI displayed by the conferencesupport system 1 according to the third embodiment of the presentinvention. In the following, a description is given of an example inwhich the conference support system 1 displays the illustratedcandidates in the action item input text box 804.

In this example, as illustrated, the conference support system 1displays a trash box icon INTR beside each candidate. Then, when thetrash box icon INTR is clicked, the conference support system 1 deletesthe corresponding candidate.

Furthermore, in this example, as illustrated, the conference supportsystem 1 displays a pull-down menu PDMN. When this pull-down menu PDMNis operated, the conference support system 1 corrects or adds a label.

By the above GUI, the conference support system 1 corrects, adds, ordeletes candidates.

Fourth Embodiment

A fourth embodiment is realized by, for example, the same overallconfiguration, hardware configuration, and functional configuration asthose of the first embodiment. In the following, the different pointsare mainly described. The output by the outputting unit 1F4 (FIG. 3) ofthe fourth embodiment is different from that of the first embodiment.

A topic is a word indicating the theme, the topic of discussion, or thesubject of a controversy, of a plurality of statement contents. Forexample, the conference support system 1 displays a topic as generatedbelow.

FIG. 18 illustrates an example of a display of topics generated by theconference support system 1 according to the fourth embodiment of thepresent invention. In the illustrated example, the conference supportsystem 1 generates a topic 1101, and arranges and displays a statementcontent 1102 corresponding to each topic 1101.

The statement contents, which are stated during a conference, are oftenrelated to a plurality of topics 1101. Note that the statement contents,which are stated during a conference, may be related to a plurality oftopics 1101, or may be related to the same topic 1101.

As illustrated, the statement contents 1102 are grouped in units oftopics 1101. The statement contents 1102, which are grouped in units oftopics 1101, are decorated according the type of each statement content1102. Furthermore, in the illustrated example, among the statementcontents 1102, the statement contents 1102 that are “positive opinions”are arranged on the left side, while the statement contents 1102 thatare “negative opinions” and “problems” are arranged on the right side.In this way, when the statement contents 1102 are arranged according tothe types of statement contents, the conference support system 1 candisplay the statement contents such that the user can easily andintuitively recognize the contents of the discussion.

Furthermore, when the statement content 1102 is long, the conferencesupport system 1 may shorten the statement content 1102. For example,the conference support system 1 performs a so-called sentencecompression process, etc. That is, the conference support system 1 mayconvert each of the statement contents into a simple format, by sentencecompression, etc.

Specifically, first, the conference support system 1 uses a sentencestructure analysis tool, etc., to perform sentence structure analysis onthe statement content. Then, the statement content is divided into aplurality of elements by the sentence structure analysis. Next, theconference support system 1 applies an importance level to each element.Next, the conference support system 1 deletes the elements having a lowimportance level, based on the importance levels. In this way, theconference support system 1 is able to reduce the elements in a sentenceand shorten the statement content, without destroying the structure ofthe sentence.

Furthermore, for example, the importance levels are set as follows.

-   -   Nouns, proper nouns, nominative cases, and objective cases have        high importance levels.    -   Elements including “etc.” indicating examples and “or” that is a        particle, adverbs, and modifiers have low importance levels.

Therefore, the conference support system 1 deletes modifiers, embeddedwords, and dependent clauses, etc., to perform sentence compression andshorten the statement content. Furthermore, sentence compression isperformed by a method disclosed in, for example, “The basics of naturallanguage process”, written by Manabu Okumura and published by CoronaPublishing, Co., Ltd.

As described above, when topics are displayed by the conference supportsystem 1, the user can easily review the conference. That is, when theconference support system 1 displays “problems”, “action items”, and“determination items” associated with the topics, the user canefficiently summarize the conference.

Furthermore, in the GUI illustrated in FIG. 17, the user may addcandidates of “problem”, “action item”, and “determination item”. Inthis case, the conference support system 1 may extract statementcontents related to the added candidates. For example, the extractionresults are displayed in a screen as described below.

FIG. 19 illustrates an example of displayed results extracted by theconference support system 1 according to the fourth embodiment of thepresent invention. For example, in the illustrated example, theconference support system 1 displays the results extracted from “actionitem” and “determination item”, in a text box INBX, etc.

Furthermore, in the text box INBX, a statement content may be displayedin a full sentence format. Note that FIG. 19 illustrates an example ofdisplaying the statement contents grouped according to boundariesestimated by a method of estimating topic boundaries described below,including candidate statements of “action item”, in the text box INBX.That is, the illustrated text box INBX displays an abstract. On theother hand, the text box INBX may display a full text AL. That is, thetext box INBX may switch to displaying the full text AL. Furthermore,for example, the abstract is generated from the full text AL.

For example, the extraction result is generated by the fourth estimationmethod and the calculation of similarity described below. Specifically,first, the conference support system 1 expresses the statement contents,which have been grouped according to boundaries estimated by the methodof estimating topic boundaries described below, and the candidates, withdocument vectors. Next, the conference support system 1 calculates thegoodness of fit based on a cosine similarity, etc. Then, the conferencesupport system 1 extracts, or associates together, statement contentsand candidates having high similarities. These methods are realized bymethods disclosed in, for example, “The basics and techniques of naturallanguage process”, written by You Okuno, et al., and published bySHOEISHA Co., Ltd., and“http://www.cse.kyoto-su.ac.jp/-g0846020/keywords/cosinSimilarity.html”.

As a result, as illustrated, some of the statement contents, which areextracted from all of the statement contents, are displayed in the textbox INBX. Furthermore, a plurality of statement contents, which aredivided into groups of topics, are displayed in the text box INBX.

Specifically, when there is a statement content that is determined to bea “problem”, a “determination item”, or an “action item” in a discussionabout a certain topic, the statements indicating these types areextracted into the text box INBX.

Furthermore, as illustrated, statements, which indicate a “problem”, a“determination item”, or an “action item”, related to statementsindicating the extracted contents of “action item”, may be displayed inthe text box INBX.

Note that the conference support system 1 is not limited to being usedwhen the conference ends. For example, the conference support system 1may be used when the conference minutes are input after the conferenceends. Furthermore, the distances between topics are preferably set suchthat missed topics and overlapping topics are reduced, by a methoddisclosed in, for example,“http://ryotakatoh.hatenablog.com/entry/2015/10/29/01 5502” and“http://tech-sketch.jp/2015/09/topic-model.html”.

Note that the topics 1101 are generated as follows, for example.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart of an example of generating topics by theconference support system 1 according to the fourth embodiment of thepresent invention. For example, when the illustrated process isperformed, a screen as illustrated in FIG. 18 is displayed by theconference support system 1.

In step S31, the conference support system 1 inputs a statement content.For example, after a conference for which the conference support system1 has been used is ended, the conference support system 1 is in a statewhere the statement contents stated during the conference have beeninput.

In step S32, the conference support system 1 estimates the topicboundary. Specifically, the topics are generated with respect to thegroups of statement contents, and therefore, first, the conferencesupport system 1 classifies the statement contents into groups.Therefore, the conference support system 1 estimates the topic boundaryseparating the groups. For example, the conference support system 1estimates the topic boundary, such that statement contents having commoncontents or statements contents estimated to be highly related to eachother, are included in the same group.

For example, the topic boundary is estimated by the four methodsdescribed below.

First, the first estimation method is a method of estimating a topicboundary when “a keyword explicitly indicating the transition of topicis detected”. Note that specific keywords, by which the transition of atopic can be estimated, are “to come to think of it” and “by the way”,etc. Furthermore, these keywords are set by the user of the conferencesupport system 1 in advance, for example, before the conference.

Furthermore, the second estimation method is a method of estimating atopic boundary when “a word indicating the replacement of theconversation leader is detected”. Specifically, in the second estimationmethod, when a word such as “a little while ago”, “the other day”, and“a long time ago”, etc., is stated, it is estimated that there is atopic boundary. Furthermore, these keywords are set by the user of theconference support system 1 in advance, for example, before theconference.

Note that the first and second estimation methods are methods disclosedin “Real-time Topic Segmentation of information seeking chat”, writtenby Yuichi Miyamura, Takenobu Tokunaga, Department of Computer Science,Graduate School of Information Science and Engineering, Tokyo Instituteof Technology,“http://www.cl.cs.titech.ac.jp/_media/publication/632.pdf”.

Furthermore, the third estimation method is a method of estimating thatthere is a topic boundary when a statement content of a “question” typeis stated. That is, when there is a statement content determined to be a“question”, the conference support system 1 estimates that there is atopic boundary.

Furthermore, the fourth estimation method is a method of estimating atopic boundary by using “lexical cohesion”. In the fourth estimationmethod, for example, the “lexical cohesion” is calculated by using athesaurus, etc. Specifically, first, the conference support system 1detects a link formed by an assembly of statement contents having a“lexical cohesion” relationship, that is, a so-called “lexical chain”.Then, in the fourth estimation method, a “lexical cohesion” isconsidered to indicate a meaningful assembly of statement contents, andthe portions corresponding to the starting point and the ending point ofthe “lexical chain” are estimated to be topic boundaries. For example,the fourth estimation method is a method disclosed in “Text segmentationbased on lexical cohesion”, written by Takeo Honda and Manabu Okuruma,Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology,“https://ipsj.ixsq.nii.ac.jp/ej/index.php?action=pages_view_main&active_action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=49265&item_no=1&attribute_id=1&file_no=1&page_id=13&block_id=8”,and “The basics of natural language process”, written by Manabu Okumuraand published by Corona Publishing, Co., Ltd.

In step S33, the conference support system 1 generates a topic. That is,in step S33, the conference support system 1 generates topics at therespective topic boundaries estimated in step S32. Therefore, step S33is repeatedly performed for the number of groups that are separated bythe topic boundaries.

For example, a topic is generated by the two methods described below.

The first generation method includes extracting a statement content thatis a proper noun or a word that is not registered in a dictionary, thatis, a so-called unknown word, from the statement contents grouped by thetopic boundaries, and setting the extracted statement content as atopic.

Furthermore, in the second generation method, first, nouns, verbs, oradjectives are extracted from the statement contents that have beengrouped by topic boundaries. Next, in the second generation method, theconjugation of the extracted statement content is changed back to theoriginal form. Then, a statement content that is frequently stated isset as a topic. In this way, the conference support system 1 can displaya topic, etc.

Note that all of or part of the processes according to embodiments ofthe present invention may be realized by programs for causing a computerfor executing the procedures of the conference support method, describedin a programming language or an object-oriented programming languagesuch as an assembler, C, C++, Java (registered trademark), JavaScript(registered trademark), Ruby, and PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, etc. Thatis, the program is a computer program for causing a computer of aninformation processing apparatus or the conference support system 1including one or more information processing apparatuses to executeprocedures.

Furthermore, the program may be distributed by being stored in acomputer-readable recording medium such as a read-only memory (ROM) oran Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), etc. Furthermore,the recording medium may be an Erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM), aflash memory, a flexible disk, a compact disc ROM (CD-ROM), a compactdisc-ReWritable (CD-RW), a Digital Versatile Disc-ROM (DVD-ROM) aDVD-Random Access Memory (DVD-RAM), a DVD-RW, a Blu-ray disc (registeredtrademark), a secure digital (SD) (registered trademark) card, or amagneto-optic (MO) disc, etc. Furthermore, the program may bedistributed through an electric communication line.

Furthermore, the conference support system 1 may include two or moreinformation processing apparatuses that are connected to each other viaa network, etc. That is, the conference support system 1 may perform allof or part of the processes in a distributed manner, in a parallelmanner as in a duplex system, or in a redundant manner as in a dualsystem.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the efficiency ofa conference can be increased.

The conference support system, the conference support method, and therecording medium are not limited to the specific embodiments describedin the detailed description, and variations and modifications may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A conference support system for supporting aconference, the conference support system including one or moreinformation processing apparatuses for implementing various functions ofthe conference support system, the conference support system comprising:an inputter configured to input a statement content that is a content ofa statement stated by a participant of the conference; a determinerconfigured to determine a statement type of the statement content, basedon the statement content input by the inputter; and an outputterconfigured to output at least one of the statement content, anevaluation of the conference, and an evaluation of the participant,based on a determination result obtained by the determiner.